Vic bird flu cases hit export markets

Asian bans on Australian poultry imports in the wake of a bird flu outbreak on two Victorian farms are an overreaction, the chicken meat industry says.

The Australian Chicken Meat Federation says Vietnam, Singapore, and Hong Kong have placed bans on all poultry products from Victoria, while Japan has cancelled all imports from across Australia.

But the federation's executive director Andreas Dubs said on Wednesday the response so far was an over-reaction to the threat.

"It's out of proportion to what I would consider the risk is," Dr Dubs said.

"It's very localised. It's very low risk."

The bans come days after authorities quarantined two commercial duck farms northwest of Melbourne after detecting low pathogenic avian influenza, which is not the deadlier and more contagious form of the virus that has spread through Asia in recent years.

More than 20,000 ducks are being culled and the two farms, owned by the same company, are being sterilised to stop the virus from spreading.

The poultry industry says the bans are more of a nuisance than a serious concern at this stage.

"The effect on the industry is not huge but it's bothersome because we do have some trade with Japan and Hong Kong," Dr Dubs said.

"It's not uncommon for countries to initially react by putting a ban on and then review it once they can fully absorb the details."

About half of all Australian poultry exports went to Hong Kong, Dr Dubs said, but the entire export market was only four or five per cent of the total volume, so the impact from the new bans was relatively small.

There could be some impacts on other animal-related products, such as ice-cream, which contained eggs, he said.

Other countries like South Africa are now requiring certification that an Australian poultry import has not come from within 20km of the quarantined sites.

Dr Dubs said he was hopeful the bans would be lifted in the coming days.

Last week Victorian officials stressed that the avian flu outbreak would pose no risk to the community.

Dr Hugh Millar, the state's chief veterinary officer, said authorities acted quickly only as an extreme precaution to eliminate all chances that the virus could spread.

"This is all about making sure that the virus doesn't one day in the future evolve and mutate into a more serious form," Dr Millar told reporters on Friday.

The source of the outbreak has not been confirmed but officials believe the virus could have been introduced from wild waterfowl known to harbour influenza viruses.